DD may have food allergies :o(

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:59 pm

So I am waffling between panic attacks and thinking this allergy situation isn't so bad. After all, her worst reaction was hives, and otherwise it's just D. But what if, like many people, the reactions turns into anaphylaxis all of a sudden?? Can her legume allergies stay mild forever, or should I always be prepared for the worst case scenario??

As you might imagine, I've become an overnight scholar on legume allergies, and I'm pretty confident I found the smoking gun in DD's case. It knocked my socks off to learn that most peanut allergic kids are also sensitized to tree pollen. I also learned that many pollen producing trees are legume trees, such as locust, acacia, etc. Then I learned that local governments and landscapers plant mostly male trees of all varieties to avoid having them bear messy fruit or flowers. So cities and suburbs, where legume allergies are worst, are blanketed in insane amounts of tree pollen because of the trees planted by people!! This is not how mother nature would have designed our forests and communities. Our built "natural" environment is causing this meteoric rise in legume and other allergies!!

It's truly stunning when you think about it. Peanut allergy is worst in urban areas, and we're all led to think about the hygeine hypothesis, when the opposite may be true. Our immune systems are bombarded with wholly unnatural levels of pollen! This may even explain her early hives around her mouth in response to eating cinnamon. Cinnamon is the bark of the Cassia tree, a legume!!

Here's an interesting article explaining legume allergies. Given the estrogenic properties of all legumes, I guess she's not missing much! I'm one step closer to adopting the Paleo diet!

http://www.allergyfree-gardening.com/ar ... ollen.html

Post by **tex** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:38 pm

If I were in your situation, I believe I would expect the allergies to remain at a nuisance level, but I would be prepared for the worst, just in case one of them didn't.

Tex

Deb · Post by **Deb** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:42 pm

Wow, Zizzle....!

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 9:24 pm

Tex,
I want to believe you are right. After all, we wouldn't know about these allergies had it not been for the post-Zyrtec overreaction. With loose stool alone, I would have been thinking gluten, not legumes! I wonder if the mild reaction means we may only be dealing with pollen cross-reactivity? My plan is to carry Benadryl and authorize her school to use it, but otherwise hope for the best, and not sweat tiny exposures.

DH is convinced if they tested him for allergies they would find many, and yet he's OK. I suppose many people just put up with mild allergy symptoms.